28 September 2007

connected

i strongly advise everyone interested in WOAW to turn on your radios [windows live stream here // mac users, please download the unofficial fm4 dashboard widget here] tomorrow, saturday 29 september, between 14.00 and 15.00 CET time. this would be 13.00 to 14.00 UK time and something like 22.00 in australia. the show you'll be listening to is called CONNECTED.

i'll be in vienna over the weekend and til late monday night, so posting will continue on tuesday.

27 September 2007

habitual writing behaviour

the mean thing about habitually writing at night is that even when i try to go to sleep early, there is always this semi-somnolent moment when imagery and words pop up and i need to get up again to write them down. it's like having to drag yourself out of bed just to pee once more: pretty annoying. so here i am at 23:30 uk time, awake and typing away, when i actually had my lights out two hours ago. i was tired, still am, but now that i've written a half-page already i might as well stick to my new habit of writing one page every day. so far i've been getting ahead rather fine with this, only that it's mostly late night work and i'm not quite sure whether i'll manage to keep that up once my lectures have started... either way, it's a good habit, which would be even better, if it weren't for that charwoman slamming her vacuum cleaner against my door from the outside every morning at seven thirty. or for the fear that no matter how interesting these lectures will get, writing in midnight silence will always be more tantalizing.

25 September 2007

ich stopfe die englische nacht in ein glas
über winter die blauen sirenen
der industriebrotstaat da ein auge ein
augenaufschlag man hat uns
in diesen stall und da unten
der wachmann sein blick brüllerei
eine spitalausfahrt drei vier brücken
die tüten das gras das die bauern
dörren halme halbschlaf und
der deckel die decke die winde der wind
sind im glas.

[i cram an english night in a glass/ over winter the sirens all blue/ the industrial bread state there an eye a/ glance they put us up/ in this stable and down there/ that guard his look a howl/ a hospital's drive three four bridges/ a joint the weed that the farmers/ dry blades doze and/ the top the topping the heaver the weather/ are in that glass.]

24 September 2007

hmpf.

i just found out i didn't make it into the final twenty of this year's open mike writing competition. now that's a bit of a disappointment, as it also has an effect on my planning to visit frankfurt in early november. personally, though, i liked the story i sent them even better than the one i mailed to the fm4 wortlaut competition. but yeah, whatever, maybe next year.

23 September 2007

perhaps i have an idea for a longer text (= novel)... will start writing soon and will see how that goes. have a pretty good feeling about it, i'm even kind of excited.

also, there's the dresdner lyrikpreis on, which is only happening every other year. but i guess i'm not yet good enough to participate, and also the deadline, 30 september, is kind of close. they want 6 t0 10 poems, which seems quite a lot to me, so i really wouldn't even know which ones to choose. i'll see whether i'll be able to decide on some tomorrow, if not, obviously i won't be partaking.

22 September 2007

today i went to have a look at my campus library (maughan library) for the first time, and it's beautiful. in fact, i've never used such a time-honored library before. it's exactly what i hoped for, very english and sophisticated. as yet, i haven't decided on any optional courses, but reporting wars remains a favorite. i haven't written anything worthwhile reading since i got here, apart from a poem my flat mates and i came up with while waiting to be enrolled, maybe. it's called POEM ON THIS and goes something like I THINK I HEARD CABLES COLLAPSE/ I DREAD PIPES/ THESE CURTAINS IN/ BLACK BROWN AND RED/ QUEUE FOR THIS/ THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID. so yeah, you guys haven't missed out.

21 September 2007

back. ish.

we just had a false fire alarm in the building and after walking down the stairs fourteen stories, waiting outside for fifteen minutes, and walking up ten floors only to hop into an elevator that would take us down to the ground floor again, i figured i might as well make the best of the situation and go online when nobody else would.

so here's one of the first couple of pictures i took in london this week. i haven't been writing much since i got here, mainly because i've been busy organizing things and getting to know my flat mates, which are lovely.

oh, and i decided against sending in that story i wrote for the walter serner price, as i really wasn't happy with it in the end. i'll have to rework it sometime end of this year, when plenty of time will have passed and i'm not as confused about how i want to sound anymore.

16 September 2007

Sorry

as yet, there's no www in my room. this will change coming wednesday evening, from then on posting on this blog will continue in more or less regular fashion. until then, i recommend all of you read christian kracht's faserland, it's really good.

14 September 2007

an wann [of when]

bin laue nacht bin/ spider ohne mann/ am kellertor/ die waschweibhand/ am brett die reibt die/ spinnt den dreck aufs land/ das liegt lag lang und/ breit die muskelfinger/ ach bin nacht bin/ hab an wen gedacht/ im gang.

[am mild night am/ spider sans man/ at cellar door/ the washer-women's hand/ at board rubs/ yarns the dirt goes rural/ land lies lied and long/ the beefy fingers/ sigh am night am/ thought of someone/ going.]

11 September 2007

bye bye berlin

what a grand time we had!

thanks go out to:
lauter niemand (adrijana, clemens, hendrik, ernesto, florian, erik, johannes, jörn, isabel, yaron, andré, ...),
dachbüro (dominik, jockel, valentin, clara, markus, ...),
ulla and kilian, felix, ola and paul,
steve and jeanne, obviously,
and everybody everywhere who has been supportive of my writing.

10 September 2007

Frage - Nikolaus Lenau

O Menschenherz, was ist dein Glück?
Ein rätselhaft geborner,
Und, kaum gegrüßt, verlorner,
Unwiederholter Augenblick!

09 September 2007

08 September 2007

(die tiger des zorns sind weiser als die pferde der weisung.)

07 September 2007

06 September 2007

day 167

writing this story is friggin' torture. i re-arranged and rewrote five out of six pages now (by hand!!), changes which i will still have to key in later tonight. that's ok, though, as i will have a finished draft by tomorrow night, which i can then edit for a third time on saturday. things are going slowly, but surely as usual.

05 September 2007

es sommert noch/ da beschlagen die scheiben/ nun wer ist die/ unvernunft und/ wer wirft den/ kiesel hinauf an mein fenster/ den weißen/ es sommert ein klirren noch/ gegen die scheiben.

04 September 2007

day 165

i'm at 1'694 words at the moment, page no. 5 of the story. it's tricky this time around, i'm not yet happy with the overall sound of the text. writing, at the moment, is only limited fun. in spite of this, i'll try and stick to my plan of finishing it by friday evening, so that i can let it lie around for a couple more days before sending it in. i've thought about pulling out of the competition as well, but since half of lauter niemand is partaking and i would like to top my time in berlin off with a presentable piece, that's not an option.

03 September 2007

day 163/ 164 - zwei wochen südsee

zwei wochen südsee herz aufs meer ein palmblattboot und rosa lichter muschelschloßkapellen kokosgroß und glas in unterwasserdunkelrot und die gesänge herz die trommeln schlagen alle lippensegel alle blütentakelagen flutlichtabschied herz ein hulatanz an vierzehn südseetagen